All in the Eyes
by Imagination-Parade
Summary: Booth catches Brennan checking him out. Set during "The Crank in the Shaft"


_Hi guys! College has turned out to be quite conducive to writing Fanfiction. Take today for instance: boring movie + new Bones episode fresh in my mind equals short little Fanfiction story written to keep from falling asleep in class._

_So…show of hands…who else thought Brennan was totally checking Booth out during that whole Hercules scene last night? That was basically the inspiration for this. I hope you all enjoy it! Dialogue is borrowed from "The Crank in the Shaft"_

_As always, Bones isn't mine, and please leave a review!_

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"Forget it. There's no way that I could keep that open long enough to dump a body!" Booth declared, leaning against the wall next to the elevator. "And I'm in shape."

"Must have been someone that was stronger than you," Brennan said.

"You're kidding me, right?" Booth instantly replied, his voice laced with disbelief. "Have you seen the people in these offices? Compared to them, I am Hercules."

"Apparently not," Brennan replied as her eyes began to travel over his body. "Maybe you do need that chair."

"Or maybe it was two people," Booth said, holding up his fingers for emphasis.

Brennan managed to mumble her approval of that explanation as she continued to look at him. Booth gave her a weird look for seemingly having drifted off to dream world before he noticed that she was looking at him.

"Are you checking me out?" Booth asked.

"What? No!" Brennan instantly replied, knowing she'd been caught.

Booth smiled at her immediate refusal. "You were. You were checking me out!"

"I was not," Brennan replied. Her voice was back to its normal collected tone.

"Hey, it's okay, Bones. I get it, me being a sexy FBI agent and all," he chuckled.

"That's the second time you've called yourself that. I'm beginning to think you may have a vanity problem."

"Whatever; you're the one who was ogling me," Booth said.

"I was not! You were the one who made the Hercules comparison. I was merely trying to determine if that was a logical and accurate analogy or not," Brennan said.

"Ah ha!" Booth exclaimed, smiling. "So you _were_ looking."

"You pretty much asked me to," she said.

"You started it! You made that stronger comment just to bug me, didn't you?"

"You called me a drone!" Brennan exclaimed.

"After you called me one!" Booth countered.

"This is a very childish argument," Brennan pointed out.

"We're not arguing. We're bickering," Booth said.

"That's the same thing," Brennan said.

"It is not, and no matter what you want to call it, you started it."

Brennan crossed her arms underneath her breasts, refusing to dignify that with a response. Booth smiled at her irritated expression and leaned against the wall by the elevator once again. They stood in silence for a few moments, simply staring at the other's face. Brennan finally decided to break the mutual defiance.

"What?" she asked as she noticed the smirk on his face.

"Nothing," he chuckled. "Just waiting to see if you start ogling me again."

Her arms uncrossed and her hands rested on her hips as a sigh escaped her lips. "I was not ogling you!"

"It's perfectly natural, Bones. Nothing to be ashamed of."

"I'm not ashamed," she replied.

"Good," he said, pushing himself off the wall to get back to work.

"You can't be ashamed of something you didn't do," she muttered.

"You _did_ do it, and you know, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not sure I like being objectified in that manner," he said in a teasing tone.

"Okay," she sighed. "Now you're just doing this on purpose."

"I mean, I am _more_ than just a sex object, Bones."

"No one said you _were_ a sex object."

"You didn't have to say it. Your eyes said it for you," he teased.

"I'm ignoring you now," she declared.

"Fine. Don't talk," Booth said, leaning back against the wall. "Just look."

Brennan again chose not to dignify that with a response and began examining the area around the elevator again, expecting him to swallow his pride and help her. A few minutes passed before she sighed and glanced up at him from her position on the floor.

"You're really just going to stand there?" she asked. He got a wicked grin on his face.

"You just couldn't resist, could you?" he teased. He looked at his watch. "Took you two minutes and twelve seconds, though. Not bad."

"I did not look up to look at you in _that_ way," Brennan said.

"Okay," Booth shrugged, copying the tone she used when saying the same word to him earlier that day. She frowned when she recognized the fact that he was still mocking her.

"The people in this office want answers, Booth. They're not going to appreciate your refusal to help in favor of acting like a four-year-old."

"Alright," Booth said. "You're right. What do you want me to do?"

"Try the elevator again," she said.

"I've already tried it twice. We proved I can't open it."

"You couldn't open it before, but almost any task becomes easier when there's adrenaline running through your system, and as much as I hate to say this, I think you picking on me has probably caused your body's adrenaline level to increase," Brennan explained. "So try it again anyway."

"You know, Bones, if you really want to see my muscles, all you have to do is ask," he teased, the grin reappearing on his face.

She rolled her eyes, crossed her arms over her chest again, and turned to leave. Booth reached out quickly and grabbed her arm, twirling her back around.

"Let me go," she said.

"No," Booth said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "I'm sorry, okay? I was just having a little fun."

"Let me go," she said again. "And your fun was completely uncalled for because I was falsely accused."

Booth chuckled again. "No, you weren't, but don't feel bad. I've probably looked at you for a moment longer than I should have a time or two before."

"So it's okay for you to ogle me, but it's not okay for me to ogle you?" Brennan asked.

"Ha! So you admit that's what you were doing?" Booth said, letting go of her and looking at her.

"You are causing this argument to go in a circle, and at this rate, it's never going to be over," Brennan said.

"You can end it right now. Just admit it. You were checking me out," Booth said.

"You know what, Booth? Solve the case yourself," Brennan said and turned to walk away again. Once again, he grabbed her arm.

"Okay, Bones! Wait," he said, twirling her around once again. "I really am sorry, okay? I'm done. I'll behave. I'll promise."

"You promise?" she said.

"Yes," Booth said. "So…elevator, right? Okay, here we go."

He walked up to the elevator doors and once again tried to pry them apart. They opened a bit more than they had the last time, but Booth only held it for a few seconds before he pulled away from the doors.

"Yeah, it's not gonna happen, Bones," Booth said. "There had to be two people."

"Or it was one person who was stronger than you," Brennan said.

"Now who's forming a circle?" Booth said. "Okay, Bones. If you're so sure that it's possible to do this independently, go ahead."

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"Go ahead. You have a lot of upper body strength. You push open the doors," Booth said, gesturing to the elevator.

"Okay," Brennan said.

Booth stepped back, giving her room to try to open the doors. They smirked at each other as their paths crossed. Brennan stepped up to the elevator, positioned her feet in a steady stance, grabbed the doors, and used all her strength to try and push them apart. The doors opened just a little bit before Brennan grunted and let go, stepping back.

"Okay…" Brennan said. "It definitely took more than one person."

"Okay, so now that that is settled, I think I'm gonna go talk to some of the employees," Booth said.

"Good idea," Brennan agreed.

"And when I'm through, I'm going to the gym," Booth said.

"In the middle of the work day? Why?" Brennan asked.

"Because _if_ someone in this office can open those doors by themselves, and I can't, there's a problem," Booth said.

"Won't going to the gym ruin your argument for why you need the chair?" Brennan teased.

"This is more important than a chair. Hercules, remember?" Booth said.

"I don't think it's a good idea to use that comparison again," Brennan said.

"You're probably right," he agreed.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to go to the gym, too," Brennan said.

"You feel weak now, too, huh?" Booth asked.

She sighed. "A little bit. Can I go with you?"

"Of course," he said, beginning to head towards the cubicles. "And Bones?"

"What?" she asked. He got close to her as he crossed where she was standing and leaned in close to whisper in her ear.

"While we're at the gym…and I'm lifting weights…" he started, the teasing tone beginning to return to his voice. "You can look as much as you want."

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_So what do you think? Should I stop writing and actually pay attention in class? :-p_


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